CARLY SEGAL/NBCDr. Conrad Murray, who has served close to seven months behind bars for the death of Michael Jackson, remains defiant, insisting that he did nothing wrong.
Jackson died three years ago today at his Los Angeles home on Carolwood Drive, due to acute propofol intoxication. Murray, Jackson's personal physician, was convicted by a jury on Nov. 7, 2011 of involuntary manslaughter.
In his first interview since his infamous NBC sit-down right before the verdict, Murray exclusively tells E! News, through his lawyers, that he still thinks about that night at Jackson's home three years ago.
Murray says he feels bad that he deprived Jackson of sleep that final night, and that his goal was to get the singer away from using propofol. He says that one would have had to actually have been there to see the struggle Jackson was having with insomnia, and that Jackson was unable to participate in conventional sleep therapy due to his addiction to the drug.
Murray says he doesn't have any regrets doing the now-infamous NBC interview, in which he says he felt he did nothing wrong regarding Jackson's death. Judge Michael Pastor said the interview gave him "tremendous concern" during Murray's sentencing.
Murray says his only regret is that he didn't do more, which includes testifying at trial. His appeals lawyer Valerie Wass tells E! News that Murray now "feels very strongly about" not testifying.
Of his time in jail, Murray says he thinks about the injustice of it all. He says he was framed, and that he only tried to help Jackson within the parameters to which he was confined. He says he is an innocent man serving time and that evil was done to him.
When asked if he owes the Jackson family an apology, Murray says no, adding that the Jackson family are the ones who need to apologize to Michael.
Murray asserts that the singer did not want to be buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, instead believing that Michael wanted to be cremated, with his ashes spread in the Pacific Ocean. Murray states that Jackson did not want to be permanently confined to a state that he didn't like, California, and the only state he really liked was Nevada.
While in jail, Murray says, he has received letters from every continent, from every race and all have been positive. He says he plans on answering them once he is released, and that many of them bring him to tears.
To pass the time in jail, his appeals attorney Valerie Wass tells E! News, Murray plays a word-of-the-day game with his fellow inmates, which he began after he bought a pocket dictionary and read it cover-to-cover.
"He reads a lot of historical fiction," Wass says. "He probably spends 10 hours a day reading."
Books he has read while behind bars include The Pillars of The Earth and The Kite Runner; he has even read the first two The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books.
Once he gets out of jail, Murray says he absolutely plans on going back to practicing medicine. He says he wants to serve humanity, and that medicine is only part of how he wants to do it.
Murray's attorneys have been trying to get him placed in an alternative custody program, which would include house arrest with an electronic monitor. However, in April, Sheriff Lee Baca wrote Murray attorney Mike Flanagan a letter saying that, due to the state's inmate realignment program, Murray is required to serve 100 percent of his sentence and would not be eligible for an electronic monitor.